ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. and, first, i want to thank our distinguished chairman of the finance committee for debunking what has just been said on the floor by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, laying out the facts of what is and is not happening with medicare advantage. and i'd like to build on that as well. i would encourage anyone who is interested to go to the web site of aarp. one of the organizations we know to be champions for seniors and take a look at what they say about the myth that health care reform will hurt medicare. and they lay out several things. one is "none of the health care reform proposals being considered by congress would cut medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for medicare services." and then just this week, in supporting our efforts, they've put out a statement that -- a letter that at the end, again, they reiterated, "most importantly, the legislation does not reduce any guaranteed medicare benefits." i find it interesting, mr. president, t

ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i want to specifically respond to the senator from nevada who was talking about the canadian health care system a little earlier and i appreciate the information, the education. of course, it has nothing to do with this debate but it was nice to hear, we now understand a little bit more about the canadian health care system. the great news for us is that what we are designing is a uniquely american health care system. and i want to walk through the hments of tha -- the elements tt have and take just a moment. about 60% of the folks in the great state of michigan get their health insurance through their employer, and that will continue. we are told that either their premiums will stay the same or go down, according to the congressional budget office, and we believe many of the efforts in this bill will actually bring costs down. one of the reasons that costs will come down is that those of us with insurance will no longer be paying through the back door for people that use the emergenc

ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. before my good friend from iowa leaves the floor, i just want to thank him for his wonderful leadership on the health care reform bill, on the appropriations that he chairs, form early on agriculture. and it's been a real pleasure for me to partner with him on so many things. so thank you for all your work. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak a*s as if in morning business for up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. mr. president, i want to talk about health care. i have to say if 20% of what was being said by our republican friends was true about this bill, i couldn't vote for it either. i keep hearing things described that have no relationship to the reality of the bill that i helped to write in finance committee, or my friends helped to write in the "help" committee or the bill that is on the floor now. i see all kinds of comments that, frankly, concern me be

ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleague from rhode island because i couldn't agree more with what you just said in terms of who's standing between -- in this case on this issue a woman and her doctor or any patient and their doctor. right now i -- i assume you would agree with me that the first person, unfortunately, that the doctor may have to call is the insurance company to see whether or not he can treat somebody. to see what it's going to cost. is it covered? right now we know that half the women in this country, in fact, postpone -- delay getting the preventive health that they need because they can't afford it. and so the mikulski amendment, from the distinguished senator from maryland, is all about making sure women can get the prehaven'tive care that we -- preventive care that we need. whether it's the mammogram or cervical cancer screening, whether it is focusing on pregnancy. wouldn't you agree right now in the marketplace, i understand about 60% of the insurance companies in the indi

ms. stabenow: thank you very much. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i'd like to speak for a few moments about the position we find ourselves in right now as we come to the end of the year, despite incredible successes that we have had and the recovery act and equal pay and children's health insurance and and -- and so many other areas where we have been focused and working hard to make a difference. we have been doing that every step of the way, as with the current bill over stalling tactics, objections, filibusters, and now again the very, very important department of defense funding bill. department of defense for the country. we are in a filibuster. i had to make the motion -- make the motion that i just did because we're going to have to come in at 1:00 in the morning and have a vote to stop a filibuster. that's what this is all about, filibustering a bill, first of all, that has a pay raise in it for our troops, that has help for families in it, military families, that has the funding for the next year. we are

ms. stabenow: i would ask the senator to yield. mr.durbin: thaoep yield to the senator from michigan -- happy to yield to the senator from mitch. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. i twaoupbt clarify this -- i want you to clarify this again. we could do this again today, if there was willingness to do this. secondly, we have a pay raise for our troops that is coming right now, right before christmas, the holidays: help for families, help for those who have lost their jobs and are trying to figure out how they keep their health care going and help for people trying to put food on the table of the holidays. is that correct? i would ask the senator to expand. and the fact that we could -- as i understand it, we could actually get this done today and give people some peace of mind going into the holidays? mr. durbin: yes, we could enter into a consent now and pass this conference report without controversy. i'll bet you it would get a unanimous news vote. everybody here wants to make sure we take care of our troops. we received a unanimous

ms. stabenow: absolutely. i think it invites the private sector to participate in a new marketplace. mr. whitehouse: if i could interject, senator baucus, i would add that it's a relatively familiar american principle to put public and private agencies side by side in competition, in fair competition and let the best for the consumer win. we see it in public universities. many of us have states with public universities we are very proud of. they compete with private universities. i think almost every one of us has a public university in our home state, and it's a model that works very well for education. many of us -- unfortunately not in rhode island, but in many other states there are public power authorities that compete with the private power industry. in fact, some of the most ardent opponents of a public option go home and buy their electricity from a public electric cooperative or from the, a public power authority. you see it in workers compensation insurance. a lot of health care is delivered through workers compensation insurance. mr. baucus: isn't that a pretty good system

ms. stabenow: thank you, very much. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you to our distinguished chairman. i have 11 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet in today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority levels. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. mr. president, i rise today to speak concerning an amendment that i'm proud to join the senator from north dakota, senator byron dorgan and other colleagues in an effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs. but i do want to just make one comment today and -- because we know that overall our plan -- i want to make one comment on compare before i do that. -- on medical care before we do -- medicare. we know it is about saving lives and that's what we're doing in our healthcare reform. i do want to mention and stress again that this is about saving medicare and our commitment. i do have to say th

ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i first want to thank senator mikulski for her leadership not only on this important amendment, but on so many issues in health care, issues for women across this country. we are honored to call her dean for all of us as it relates to focusing on the issues that are so critical to women and their families. and i want to thank senator reid for making this a priority and making this the first amendment that we are offering in this debate. we all know, madam president, that often women are the ones making health care decisions for their families as well as themselves. they're more likely to be the person making health insurance choices. and women of child-bearing age pay on average 68% more for their health care than men do. and we have so many instances in which insurance companies are standing between women and their doctors right now in making decisions, decisions not to cover preventative services like a mammogram screening or a cervical cancer sc

ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. before my opinion friend from iowa, the distinguished chairman of the health committee, leaves the floor, i want to thank him for his wonderful leadership and friendship in so many capacities and passion for what we are doing now. we are all here together knowing that in the process of legislating, you don't always get every idea that you want, but you come together and you work for something that is good for the american people. and that's what we've done. and so i want to thank you very much for your leadership. mr. president, i want to take a few moments to talk about how we actually got to this point on a sunday evening. voting at 1:00 in the morning. and frankly, what has been happening all year. so i want to take a few minutes to talk about what has happened this entire year, the first year of president obama's presidency, our first year in the majority, with the majority that we have. and then speak a little bit as well about the very, very im

ms. stabenow: thank you. mr. president? the presiding officer: th the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you very much, mr. president. i first want to thank our distinguished leader on the finance committee. it is my pleasure to serve on the senate finance committee. we have been working on this issue for well over a year, i think two years now, and i very much appreciate the senator from montana and his leadership in getting us to this point because i don't think we would have been here without his leadership. and so i very much appreciate that, as well as the leader, senator reid, who has worked higherlesworktirelessly, and ofe senator dodd and senator harkin from iowa. we especially appreciate their leadership. mr. president, the bottom line of the legislation in front of us is very simple. on behalf of the american people, we have put forward a health care reform bill that will save lives, it will save money, and it will save medicare. it does that in multiple ways. i want to spend just a few moments this evening talking about medicare because there is a very significa

ms. stabenow: but we do. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic block of time has expired. the senator from utah, senator hatch. mr. hatch: mr. president, i thank you. after weeks of closed door clandestine negotiations, senator reid finally emerged with a 383-page manager's amendment yesterday to the 2,074-page, $2.5 trillion tax and spend washington takeover of our health care system. now, despite all the promises of ushering in a new era of accountability and transparency into washington by the president and the democratic party, the reid amendment represents everything that americans hate about washington right now. chicago-style back room buyoffs at the expense of the american taxpayers. at yesterday's press conference when democrats were asked about the nebraska earmark for medicaid funding, the majority leader simply replied, quote -- "a number of states are treated differently than other states. that's what legislation is all about. that's compromise." regardless of whether or not these actions were

ms. stabenow: and i would yield the floor. thank you. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: thank you, mr. president. i found the afternoon to be very interesting. we have actually two debates going on at the same time and sometimes they don't seem very related, but they are. one of the amendments that we're debate something the one from the senator from arkansas and it limits the deductible compensation for insurance executives to $400,000. and then we have the ensign amendment which suggests that we should do the same for lawyers with junk lawsuits, but doesn't go quite that unreasonable in that it only limits it as a portion of the -- of the -- of the lawsuit. of course, one of the reasons that the -- being given on the floor for supporting the arkansas amendment is that republicans are funded by insurance companies. i really have to object to that kind of wording. we could make a lot of insinuations about who junk lawsuits are being supported by and where the money from those folks goes to. and they said, well, t

ms. stabenow: i'm sorry.nderstood from our manager of the amendment that senator durbin would be going first. thank you very much. i first want to thank the senator from california for her passion, advocacy in standing up for all of us, standing up for the women of this country. i want to thank her very much. as she said, she is a mom. i too am a mom. as hard as it is for me to believe, i also am a grandmother with a wonderful two-year-old, lily, and little grandson, walt, who was born on his daddy's birth tkaeurbgs on my son's birthday, in august. obviously they are the light of my life as well. one of the reasons i feel so passionately about the broader bill on health care reform, mr. president, is this is about extending coverage to babies so they can be born healthy. it's about prenatal care. it's about making sure that in the new insurance exchange that we have basic coverage for maternity care. i was shocked to learn that 60% of the insurance policies that are offered right now in the individual market

ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. first i want to thank my friend from new hampshire for her advocacy on health reform in general, but, specifically, working to on thers that affect small business -- on the areas that affect small business. and we're so pleased to have her here in the united states senate. mr. president, i'm coming to the floor today to join my colleagues. i know the chair of the small business committee, senator landrieu, has been here, and i know others will be here. senator lincoln, who's played such a critical role in putting together the small business provisions in the bill, and i'm very pleased to have authored one of the provisions in the managers' amendment that will guarantee that small businesses get immediate help starting next year. tax cuts to be able to cut them -- to be able to help them pay for the cost of health insurance. michigan has close to 200,000 small employers that represent about 96% of the employers in our state. most folks think of michigan when they think of large employe

ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i first want to thank senator mikulski for her leadership not only on this important amendment, but on so many issues in health care, issues for women across this country. we are honored to call her dean for all of us as it relates to focusing on the issues that are so critical to women and their families. and i want to thank senator reid for making this a priority and making this the first amendment that we are offering in this debate. we all know, madam president, that often women are the ones making health care decisions for their families as well as themselves. they're more likely to be the person making health insurance choices. and women of child-bearing age pay on average 68% more for their health care than men do. and we have so many instances in which insurance companies are standing between women and their doctors right now in making decisions, decisions not to cover preventative services like a mammogram screening or a cervical cancer sc

ms. stabenow: -- act now. thank you. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: its a he very distressing that senator stabenow couldn't finish her remarks and that other senators like senator whitehouse and levin and lieberman have been shorted of time. why? because for some reason the majority leader feels like that we shouldn't go past 5:30 tonight. well, that is defense bill, and it is important, and we need to be talking about the good things that are in it and the things that have been added to it that are not so good. and i don't think working a few extra hours is going to hurt anybody, and i think about, as we -- as i hear colleagues complain that they can't work a weekend, they can't work up to christmas, they can't work at night, well, what about our men and women who serve in iraq and afghanistan seven days a week, 12 hours a day, christmas and whholidays they're there away fm their families. so i don't have any sympathy for any member of the united states senate that feels like this is too